


none see God and live

by tigriswolf



Series: comment_fic drabbles [30]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Dark, Gen, Psychopathology & Sociopathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-19
Updated: 2011-11-19
Packaged: 2017-10-26 06:38:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/279898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur's favorite dream, the one he goes to when he dreams alone, is a small town. There are five hundred people there. He has ten minutes to kill as many as possible.</p><p>His record, so far, is 335.</p>
            </blockquote>





	none see God and live

**Author's Note:**

> Title: none see God and live  
> Fandom: Inception  
> Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Dickinson  
> Warnings: AUish; dark  
> Pairings: pre- Arthur/Eames  
> Rating: PG13  
> Wordcount: 535  
> Point of view: third  
> Prompt: Inception, Arthur (/Eames), sometimes he can't control the happy little jump of his heart when he kills a projection

Arthur as a child was nothing like what his peers would expect. Arthur as a child was angry, bitter, and _dangerous_ , to everyone and everything around him.

Arthur as a child liked dogs. And cats. People, he couldn't stand. Other children shied away from him because they could tell. Adults ignored him when they could, and punished him when they couldn't.

Arthur was disorganized, never hid what he thought, and attacked even when he had no escape plan. It wasn't until the army - which he'd been forced to join, either that or prison - that he learned self-control. Even now, that is tenuous.

(There are days, here and there, where no one can say where he was. The corpses know, but they'll never be found.)

Dreamshare is the best thing to ever happen to Arthur. He can kill and kill and _kill again_ with no consequences. Projections bleed, and they cry, and they suffer, and they die – with no consequences. No one cares about projections. No one notices when they break. He's killed a thousand people in dreams.

Arthur as a child couldn't have imagined anything better. Arthur as a man knows that nothing equals killing in reality, but in the dream is good, too. Killing in the dream keeps him sated for awhile – until those days nobody can track. (Those days with no body anyone will ever find.)

After he follows Dom out of the legit dreamshare community and into the realm of rogues, life gets more exciting. Arthur can kill for reasons other people see, other people understand, other people accept. Some of the fun is lost, but mostly, Arthur doesn't care because he can kill.

Arthur as a child was dangerous. Arthur as a child was a monster in the making, and if he hadn't been sent to the army… well. He can't say he would have killed more people. Probably less, actually. The army sharpened his edges, taught him such tricks. Made him even more dangerous.

Dom doesn't know. Doesn't want to know. Mal, though. Mal used to smile at him. Her projection wore the same smile, every time she killed him.

Eames has been giving him looks, lately. Inquisitive. Studying him, in dreams and awake. Since the Fischer job, actually. Without Dom to follow, Arthur's been making (more of) a name for himself, as the go-to point man. He's thought about opening that up to killer-for-hire, but that might reveal too many of his tricks. Plus, he still gets to kill, even as a point man. No job goes flawlessly and shooting his way out of a situation is such a rush.

(Arthur's favorite dream, the one he goes to when he dreams alone, is a small town. There are five hundred people there. He has ten minutes to kill as many as possible.

His record, so far, is 335.)

Arthur as a child had little hope in seeing twenty-five. Arthur as a man is thirty-two and planning to see many more years.

Arthur as a man vanishes the day his latest job as Eames' point man is done, but leaves a trail Eames alone can follow.

Eames might be the perfect partner, or the perfect victim. It all depends on his reaction to what he finds at the end of the trail.


End file.
